FILIP Kiss, Cardiff City’s hard-tackling young midfield player, has committed to the Bluebirds until 2016.

Slovakian Kiss, 21, has agreed a long-term contract after initially joining City on a season-long loan.

The new deal has not been officially confirmed by City, but they have agreed a fee of just under £500,000 and Kiss is committed to the club for the next four years.

Manager Malky Mackay tracked Kiss for a year, starting when he was still at Watford, before bringing him to South Wales and flew to Slovakia on a personal scouting mission after a series of highly favourable reports.

Defensive, box-to-box midfielder Kiss, who has joined City from Slovan Bratislava, is one of Mackay’s talented young guns alongside Joe Mason, Joe Ralls and Kadeem Harris.

Mackay has always made it clear he wanted to turn the Kiss loan into a permanent transfer, while Kiss underlined his desire to play for Cardiff City when he made the 3,000-mile dash from Kazakhstan to South Wales at the start of this season.

He was involved in the Slovan Bratislava team for their European Champions League tie in Kazakhstan before making a long flight to the UK where he watched City’s pre-season friendly against Celtic.

“Filip is a young footballer with a lot of potential and talent,” said Mackay, while the young Slovak has said: “Championship football is quicker than I was used to back home and the tackling is different, but I’m happy to fill the role of the tackler.

“Football is not just about the passing side of football. Hopefully, playing the role I do I can free up space for other players around me to create chances.

“My preferred position is in the centre, but I’ll fit in wherever the manager wants me. I will keep working constantly to improve my game.”

The 6ft 1in Kiss is captain of Slovakia’s under-21 team, while he has made 28 first team appearances for City in league and cup this season.

His first club was Inter Bratislava, while he joined Petrzalka before making the move to Slovan two years ago.

Now he has committed to manager Mackay and Cardiff City with his newly agreed deal starting at the end of his current loan spell.